Senses
by mightydeafeningmouse
Summary: Peter mentioned enhanced vision to Tony once, but he didn't mention his hearing... Basically what happens when Peter has a sensory overload at school.
1. Texting

Generally, most of the Avengers meetings were uneventful and boring, but this was just pointless. Tony was beginning to believe that his team mates called these meetings just so they could argue. Like, here they were, on a beautifully extravagant day, stuffed inside a conference room, approximately the size of a peanut. For what? For pretzels. Fucking pretzels.

"FUCKING LET. IT. GO, WILSON. PRETZELS ARE-"

"WHAT PRETZELS? WHERE EXACTLY ARE MY FUCKING FAVORITE PRETZELS, HUH BARTON? PLEASE, ENLIGHTEN ME."

"YOU CAN TAKE YOUR PRETZELS AND SHOVE THEM 7 FEET UP YOUR ASS, OR IS THERE NOT ENOUGH ROOM FOR YOUR HEAD AND THE PRECIOUS PRETZELS!"

Oh, the lovely sound of Clint and Sam's voice in the morning. Or afternoon. God, it was 12:03. Why was he not in his lab?

While Natasha, Steve, and Bruce were restraining Clint and Sam, (or at least attempting to), Tony leaned against the wall, vaguely wondering if the others would notice it he left the room.

He would be quiet, just casually slip out the door and escape to the lab. No one would notice-

Tony's thoughts were cut short by the vibration of his Stark phone, telling him someone had messaged him. "SPIDER-SCIENCE-BRO," His phone displays.

 **From:** Peter Parker

 _come get me?_

Tony sighed.

 **To:** Peter Parker

 _Kid, I'm not helping you skip school. Sorry._

"Clint. Sam. We're here to talk about important events that are happening or going to happen. Pretzels are not on that agenda." Steve snapped. Glancing at Tony, he hissed, "Tony. Put the damn phone away."

"Deep breaths, Capsicle. It isn't hurting anybody." By the look on Steve's face, Tony knew he wasn't helping. But, despite Steve's wishes, he went back to his phone.

 **From:** Peter Parker

 _i need you to come get me._

Tony could feel himself growing annoyed.

 **To:** Peter Parker

 _Peter. I'm not coming to get you. I am in the middle of an Avengers meeting. Don't text me again if it's about skipping class_.

As soon as Tony pressed the 'send' button, he got another text. Peter must have sent a text at the same time Tony sent his.

 **From:** Peter Parker

 _please tony. it hurts._

Suddenly, Tony could hear his heartbeat in his ears. "it hurts"? What does that mean? Where does it hurt?

 **From:** Peter Parker

 _im sorry, i didn't know you were in a meeting. sorry._

Tony's mind was racing. Peter's hurt, Peter's hurt, Peter's hurt. How badly? Shit. He might need a hospital. Oh god.

 **To:** Peter Parker

 _Where are you hurt? Are you ok? I'm coming._

 **From:** Peter Parker

 _no, it's ok. it's not hurting badly, im ok. you don't need to come._

"Tony, listen to us!" Steve yelled. "You need to know this-"

"Peter's hurt!" Tony screamed over Steve. Everyone froze. Then, everyone yelled different questions at the same time.

"Is he okay?" Steve.

"Does he need medical?" Bruce.

"How bad is it?" Clint.

"Where is he?" Natasha.

"Can we get to him?" Sam.

Tony's phone buzzed.

 **From:** Peter Parker

 _i can handle it. don't tell the team._

""Don't tell the team"? Well, shit." Clint muttered.

The Avengers exploded into questions and rants.

"EVERYBODY SHUT UP." Tony bellowed over his team.

 **To:** Peter Parker

 _I'm coming whether you want me to or not. I need to know where it hurts. The team knows. Want them to come?_

Tony was almost vibrating with adrenaline.

 **From:** Peter Parker

 _just you._

 **To:** Peter Parker

 _Where does it hurt?_

 **From:** Peter Parker

 _everywhere._

 **To:** Peter Parker

 _I'm in the car._

 **From:** Peter Parker

 _guys bathroom, 2 floor, east wing._

 **From:** Peter Parker

 _no ironman suit. hurry please._

 **To be continued...**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	2. Unconscious

Tony was speeding down street after street, going at least twice the speed limit. He need he was in deep shit if he was pulled over, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that Peter was in pain, and Tony wasn't there to help him.

Peter, Peter, Peter, Peter, Peter. Tony's head was a swirl of guilt, fear, and anxiety. Logically, he knew it wasn't his fault, but he couldn't help himself. Maybe, if he had taken better care of Peter after his Aunt had the heart attack, he wouldn't be hurt. But, Tony still didn't even know where Peter was hurting.

It was not long before Tony reached the high school. After parking his car, he marched through a side door into the high school, briefly wondering why it was unlocked, but then deciding there were bigger issues right now.

After sprinting around the halls for 10 frantic minutes, (which also earned Tony bad glances), he finally located the boys bathroom on the east wing on the second floor.

"Kid?" Tony called as he bursted into the bathroom. There wasn't any sight of Peter, but then Tony saw one of the stalls closed.

"Kid!" Tony kicked the stall door in. Relief flooded him as his eyes settled on Peter, who was laying on the floor.

Tony moved over to Peter. "Hey, Buddy, I'm here. Hey, where does it hurt?" Tony laid a hand on Peter's unmoving shoulder.

"Pete?" Tony peer over Peter's face. Peter was unconscious.


	3. Waiting

He's okay. He's going to be okay. It's okay. Tony tells himself this for hours while he and the rest of his team where huddled over the table Peter was laying on.

Three hours ago, Tony had found Peter on the floor of a high school bathroom, passed out. Tony brought him to the Avengers tower where he was gently moved to Bruce's lab.

Bruce had ran a series of medical tests with Peter, trying to reveal what was wrong with him.

Tony stared at Peter's unmoving form. Occasionally, Peter would let out a small, frail cry of pain, but he hadn't fully woken up yet.

"Do you know what's wrong with him?" Tony asked Bruce. Tony hated this. Peter looked so innocent with a look of deep pain across his young face, it was truly heartbreaking.

"I'm not sure. Because of the spider bite, his body and DNA have experienced drastic changes." Bruce replied. "He does not appear to have a common sickness, such as the flu or stomach bug. I think we should wait for Peter to wake up and see how he's feeling."

Tony turned the idea of waiting for Peter in his head. They couldn't bring him to the hospital, someone would notice the difference between a humans body and Peter's body. They couldn't tell S.H.E.I.L.D., they wouldn't pass up the change to see Spider-Man's identity. Waiting was the best option.

"Alright," Steve announces. "Me, Sam, and Bruce will take first shift. The rest of you can go clean up or sleep or something."

"No." Tony argues. "I need to be here when he wakes."

Steve crossed his arms. "Tony, it's been a long day. Why don't you go take a shower and sleep for a little, you're looking tired."

Tony scoffed. "Fuck. Off, Cap."

This struck something in Steve. Raising his voice, he hissed out, "Tony, I'm trying to help you! You lock yourself in your lab, bury yourself in work, ignoring the human need to sleep, eat, and breath a little, all while stuffing down your emotions. It's sad and pathetic."

"Ooooooooooo," Clint and Sam sang out in the background, but Tony barley heard them. "This gon' be juicy," Sam whispered to Clint, grinning playfully.

"I'M PATHETIC? You know what's pathetic, Steve? BEING IN LOVE WITH SOMEONE WHO'S 90 SOMETHING YEARS OLD. THE ONLY ACTION YOU EVER GOT WAS FROM A WOMEN WHO IS NOW PRACTICALLY DUST!" Tony thundered.

"Take. That. Back. Now," Steve says threateningly.

In the back of Tony's head, he did feel bad about what he said. He knew he crossed the line miles back, but he was experiencing a lot of emotions that day. Rage, fear, panic, sadness, worry, regret. He didn't have time for this right now.

"Acually, I think I'm good."

Natasha and Bruce instantly started yelled and ran to restrain the two.

Steve lost control of his body and mind. "FUCK YOU!" He screamed as he grabbed Tony's shoulder roughly, pulling his fist back, ready to pound his fist into Tony's face-

Except, he didn't. No, instead, he heard something. A whimper.

"GO AHEAD! PUNCH ME! YOU FUCKING COWARD-" Then, everyone heard it. Soft crying.

All of the Avengers froze, heads snapping towards Peter's table.

Peter was sitting up, hands clasped over his ears in a death grip, tears streaming down his face.


	4. Getting Better

Peter was sitting up, hands clasped over his ears in a death grip, tears streaming down his face.

Steve dropped Tony, all anger forgotten. Everyone was by Peter's side in seconds.

"Hey, hey, hey," Tony said softly, his hand rubbing comforting circles on Peter's back. "You're safe, you're okay. It's gonna be okay."

Peter only cried harder. "Can you tell me where it hurts? We can make the pain stop, but you need to tell us where it is." Bruce promised.

Peter was trying to wiggle out of Tony's grip. He was backing away from the Avengers, but seeing they were on both sides of him, he tried to shrink into himself.

"Son, tell us what's wrong. Can you speak?" Steve asked. Peter slowly lowered his hands from his ears.

"...E-Everyt-thing v-vib-brati-ing...t-to m-much...l-lo-oud..." Peter stuttered out so softly that they barely heard him.

Bruce looked up at everyone with wide eyes. "Okay. Everyone out."

"What? No, I'm not leaving him like this. Look at him." Tony exclaimed, pointing at Peter. He had his hands clutching over his ears again, crying.

"There's no way-" Tony started.

"T-Ton-ny...d-don't go..." Peter's tiny voice cracked with every syllable.

"Spidey, it's okay-"

"N-No, don't g-go...please." Peter whimpered.

"I won't, Pete. I'm not gonna leave." Tony shocked himself with how gentle he sounded. Slowly, Tony lowered himself onto the table next to Peter. He carefully peeled Peter's hands from his ears.

"You okay?" As soon the words left Tony's mouth, Peter's hands flew back over his ears. Tony was confused.

"Kid? Pete? Peter!" Tony yelled suddenly, which was definitely the wrong thing to do. Peter instantly cried out in pain, more tears falling down his cheeks.

"Tony!" Bruce whisper-yelled. "Don't yell, it hurts his ears." Bruce turned to see the rest of the Avengers, only to find that they had all left.

Bruce turned to back Peter. "Has this kind of thing happened before?" Peter nodded.

"What do you do when this happens?" Bruce whisper-asked.

"Sl-leep i-it off...b-better when I w-wake." Bruce stood and started rummaging through some drawers.

Once he found a small medicine bottle, he got a glass of water then came back over to Peter.

"I want you to take these with the water, okay?" Peter looked into the bottle curiously. "It's just a simple sleeping pill that we use for Cap when he can't sleep. Though your metabolism is faster than his, it should knock you out for about 5 hours."

Peter swiftly gulped down the pills. "So...what were you doing at school today?" Bruce whisper-asked, trying to make small talk.

"An a-assembly...got r-really l-loud." Peter lightly burrowed his head into Tony's neck.

"Ton-ny, 'm tired. And...a-and...still hur-rts." Peter let out a whimper and Tony gently stroked his hair.

"It's okay," Tony whispered. "You're gonna be okay."


	5. Sensory Overload

Five minutes after Bruce gave Peter sleeping pills, he was passed out, cuddled against Tony. Tony didn't really mind being Peter's pillow, but Bruce needed to speak with him and the rest of his team, so they had to relocate themselves for fear of waking Peter up.

"I know what happened with Peter," Bruce started once they were all in the kitchen. "It's called sensory overload. It occurs when one or more of a person's senses experience over-simulation. Peter says his school was having a school assembly that got loud. That's what caused him to freak out."

Everyone was quiet, except for Clint who was raiding the fridge.

"Why was he unconscious when Tony got to him?" Sam asked.

Bruce sighed. "My best guess would be that he passed out from pain."

Clint stood up from his crouching position in front of the fridge. "Wait, okay, so if one of us," He used the whip cream bottle he was holding to point to everyone, "were to get a sensory overload, would we pass out?"

"No. We can get sensory overload, but not as badly as Peter. The thing is with Peter, is that he already has heightened senses. Enhanced vision and hearing, things like that. See, if things get too loud for him, it hurts his ears. But if he's experiencing sensory overload, things are extremely loud for him. That's why he was crying, we were yelling and I don't really want to imagine the kind of pain it caused him."

Tony felt guilty. How could he have hurt Peter? He would never purposefully hurt him. Maybe he could make Peter something to make up for it?

"But that doesn't make any sense." Natasha said. "He was talking like he couldn't form a basic sentence."

"Yes, well, I'm not an expert on this matter, but I believe that is because his brain was working very hard to comprehend what he was hearing or seeing that it was hard for him form sentences." Bruce replied.

Tony felt terrible. How could he have overlooked this? Looking back, he had seen Peter flinch at loud noises, he had seen him cover his ears whenever Tony dropped something heavy. He had caused Peter pain and he didn't even realize it.

"Anyone else feel guilty?" Steve said. A chorus of 'yes's followed.

Bruce gazed at Tony, noticing that he was zoning out. "Tony? Are you alright?" Everyone looked at Tony.

"Y'know, Peter would sometimes ask me to turned down my music when he was working in the lab. Do you know how I responded? I turned up the music and called him a killjoy. I had no idea that it was hurting him. None of us did. Why didn't we notice? We've all seen him flinch at loud noises. We've all seen him cover his ears. We've all seen him struggle and we've done absolutely nothing about it." Tony said remorsefully.

"Tony-" Steve started, but Tony wasn't having it.

"No, Steve. Don't. Don't say it's not anyone's fault. Don't say that we couldn't have done something about it because we could've. Dammit Steve, we are his team. We're supposed to look out for him, supposed to protect him, and we didn't. And now, Peter's hurt. And it is our fault."


	6. Waking Up

It was around 8:30 when Peter woke up. Rubbing his eyes, Peter tried to sit up but a pair of strong hand pushed his shoulders back down on the couch.

Just when Peter started to panic, the pair of hands began to talk. "Jesus, Kid, take it easy, you're okay."

"Tony?"

"Yeah, bud?"

"Get off me please."

"Yep." Peter lightly pushed Tony's hands off of his shoulders as he sat up.

"So, Spider-Ling, how're you feeling? Well you're not screaming in pain right now, so I'm guessing you're feeling significantly better than the last time you were awake." Tony sighed. "But really though? Are you good now? No more crying?"

Peter winced. "Yeah, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean for that to happen-"

Tony shook his head. "No, Kid, don't apologize. It's not your fault, I know that. Bud, you wouldn't choose to be in that kind of pain."

Suddenly, Bruce came through the lab doors. "Oh, Peter, you're awake. How are you feeling?"

"Good. I'm a lot better. Um, thank you. For helping me, I mean. Thank you." Peter looked up at Bruce.

"Of course. We'll always help you, you don't need to say thank you." Bruce smiled at Peter.

"Still, thank you. So, how long was I out?" Peter asked.

"About 5 hours. The team wants to see you." Tony answered.

"Great, are they in the kitchen? I'm hungry." Peter grinned.

"C'mon, Kid. Sam will be happy to make you pancakes." Tony laughed, ruffling Peter's hair.

Everything was okay now. Peter was safe. Tony felt like he might fall over with relief.

The End.

Thank you for reading!


End file.
